Disable iphone home button in app, is it possible?

Question

I want to develop a screensaver-like app where the only way of getting back to the springboard is entering a code. Therefore I would need the Home Button action to be ignored, that is that when the user presses the button nothing happens..or something custom...instead of going back to the springboard and terminating the app. Is this possible? does anybody know if apple will approve/reject this kind of app?

Answer 1

Not with public APIS (and hopefully, not with private ones). Even if you manage it somehow, Apple will reject it for breaking UI guidelines. Moreover, even if they didn't, people could always use the iPhone's "Force Quit" equivalent to hard terminate your app.

Answer 2

The answer to your question is, yes.

The answer to the question you meant to ask--can I ship an app through the iPhone store that has the home button disabled--is no.

If you are only publishing your app to jailbroken phones you can do it, but it will piss everyone off.

Edit 7 years later: This is actually extremely possible now--there is a standard feature in the iPhone called "Guided Access". It's hidden under that "Accessibility" Link (With some other fairly cool stuff like flashing the LED whenever you get a call and allowing a Bluetooth keyboard to tab between controls)

It's called "Guided Access". You set a passcode, launch the app then triple-click the home button to start guided access.

It disables exit and allows you to designate regions of the screen you can't touch. You can also set a time limit (For kids playing which seems to be the reason a lot of people look up this question).

Tempted to edit the "Accepted answer" and throw this info in there, but that seems rude so I'll just hope people find this answer.

Annoyingly you also seem to be unable to shut off the phone--I suppose this is perfect for people who want their kids to play a game, but might not hit the original asker's problem of restricting access to a single app (I mean it WILL do that but it'll also prevent it from doing ANYTHING else).

Answer 3

Apple is not going to approve this type of app, they state pretty explicitly that you're app needs to respond appropriately to springboard telling the app to terminate both when things like phone calls come in and when memory warnings come in.

Answer 4

This is not possible with the current SDK, nor do I suspect it will ever be.

You might be able to get this behaviour via jailbreaking, but you won't be able to sell your app through iTunes, nor will Apple ever approve such an application.

Answer 5

You can do it like this Install the following mobileconfig file This will disable the home button once you launch the app

Download

Found the link Here

Answer 6

Apple won't allow it.
What if something emergency happens and you wan to dial an emergency phone number. You are putting the user at risk. The trade-off isn't worth it.